IIFA Teaching Week 3 and 4: Figure in Space, Pattern and Colour
We
started the week tutoring the painters. Our focus was to get the
students concentrated on drawing space in proportion. Starting in the
studio, we set up a simple subject of 2 pieces of A1 paper, one on
the floor and one on the wall in the corner of the room for the
students to draw. Before starting the students made schematic
drawings of the room, the A1 sheets, themselves and the space between
them and the paper. We had interesting results varying from areal
views, maps and plans made of energetic lines of trajectory, which
hopefully helped the class better understand the proportions of the
space they were drawing. Drawing the paper in the room produced some
good results, students enjoying it more than they expected, with some
pleasing drawings that included the artist as well as subject and
room. Next we introduced a model seated on the papers. Before making
a sustained drawing we showed examples of artists drawing interior
spaces such as Hockney and Martin Shortis, discussing, proportions,
scale, composition techniques such as cropping, peripheral vision and
foreground space for example. We then asked the students to make
thumbnail sketches, encouraging them to move around to explore
different compositions. This is something they very rarely do and we
had noticed previously that they have had a tendency to launch into a
large drawing starting with one detail and working outwards hoping
for the best. Many of the thumbnails were more successful than the
main drawings and some students used the session to make a whole
series. Three students based their main drawing on a thumbnail
composition and came up with interesting interpretations of the
figure in space using imaginative view points, grounded figure,
devices to lead the eye and sense of the artist's position in
relation to figure. All strong compositions that considered the
importance of tying the design to the edges of the page.
For the
afternoon we hang A1 sheets around the campus which is built out of
the old Modi cloth factory buildings. We pin the paper amongst the
derelict cloth factory sheds, tumbled down chimneys uncoiling to the
ground, down alleys stacked with old vents, in a boiler room, on the
bonnet of a rusted old Buick and on the tarmac lane cracked and
broken under the strain of weeds pushing up the soil. The students
found a sheet to draw using it as a reference point for scale,
proportion and composition to focus their landscapes and especially
examine the breadth of space in their view points. They began with
thumbnails and then more ambitious large charcoal drawings.
My
favourite class so far was on Tuesday with foundation, section A. We
had planned to work outside but the smog in the morning reduced
visibility so much it would have been impossible. Instead we set up
what we were going to do at one end of the classroom were there was a
large wall sculpture of a tree filling the whole wall, a nice
backdrop for our rather theatrical lesson. Our class was on figure in
space, leading on from last weeks introduction to drawing the figure
and would draw on classes I had learnt whilst training at
Whitechapel with Becki. Arranging the class was a military operation
with three tiers crammed into the small space, sitting on floor
stools upturned as board rests, sitting on stools and standing at the
back behind the wonderful sloped, teak stained Victorian type school
desks filling the classroom. We gavr the class tiny A5 sheets, asking
them to draw the class room, really explaining that they need to
include walls on bothside, the floor, ceiling and foreground which is
as important above us as below. We took this further explaining that
those on the sides of the room would have to draw behind them to get
the walls in. We did another small drawing asking them to this time
put themselves/their position in the drawing so they were really
exploring their entire field of view before starting with the main
piece.
We
stopped for a crit to look at the small drawings, which allowed us to
see and discuss how differently we all perceive space, evident in the
brilliant little felt tip drawings scattered at our feet in the
middle of the circle. We then got into our huddle to look at images
on my tablet, as I showed examples of different ways artists have
interpreted space in art from Duccio and Massacio to Nadal Chand
through to Hopper, Hockney, then Van Gogh, Bonnard and Tim Hyman
drawings.
Before
getting back to work we reiterated how important planning in this way
is; many students helpfully shared their experiences of having to
redraw the space several times after incorrectly estimating the
proportions of the room. Using the small drawings as a guide, we
asked the students to make larger drawings of the room and also
introduced colours for them to use: two pastels one cold and one warm
colour as well as a choice of black or white paper (this was to
introduce a new element for variety but also were running out of
materials after being so liberal in the first two weeks). After 5
minutes drawing the space we introduced a model. After 10 we moved
the model to a different position in the room for the students to add
to their drawing. We repeated this and as the model moved around more
and more students were struggling to place the figure. To resolve
this we extended their drawings by adding more paper, so the work got
bigger and bigger. The scene became quite theatrical and it was
exciting to see the strange drawings that were being produced, not
least because of the mind bogglingly wonderful way some dealt with
the space and all in striking colour tones.
We
repeated the class for Section B&C, this time in the park but
with less success due to various issues. Probably to do with the
classes mood that day as well as the difference of being outside both
for their ability to focus and also because the task was more
difficult in an open space. A couple of student made some of the best
drawings in this session however.
Matisse
with Fashion Design and Textiles on Wednesday. Our first time with
these groups and they were great, they also have by far the best
studio; light, airy, open planned top floor with a glass exterior
wall opening out onto a lawn terrace. We made a set for them with
draped patterned fabric, rugs, flowers and fruit for them to draw
from. We introduced Matisse to them for the first time ever and
talked about using pattern shape and colour to draw something. We
took this further discussing how the space in Matisse work is on one
often flat plane, how this turns things into pattern and how we would
like to challenge the class to do the same with the set in front of
them. We worked on thumbnails and felt tips to begin with, which
worked well. The sustained drawings were harder as there was a
tendency to over work and fixate on detailed rendering of forms
instead of simplifying and focusing on compositional edits/decisions,
especially when we added a model.
We repeated this class with foundation on Tuesday 12 November. Rosy was back with us and since this was really her area she took the lead and the students produced some fantastic work. We had tweaked the class slightly so, for example, we worked on coloured paper. This group seemed to take very naturally to the idea of making patterned, rhythmic colour compositions by flattening the space they were drawing. The work produced certainly showed inspiration from the Matisse and Vuillard work we looked at but also the patterns, design and feel of Indian miniature painting in some.
For fashion this week we worked outdoors using ink, exploring pattern and mark-making again, leading on from the Matisse inspired class last week. We set up a scene against the large studio windows for a more sustained ink and brush drawing. Some of the work produced was very illustrative and really well thought out compositionally. Some used thick and thin lines with pattern and a variety of marks to create rhythm and balance in the work. Others used the single black tone and white of the paper to capture a sense of light and dark in and out the room. We moved on to colour using oil pastels on colour paper with ink. This introduced using limited colour with black and also new texture and mark making combining wet and dry materials and resist marks.
for painting we had prepared a lesson on sketchbook work. Making sketchbooks and working on the busy streets to gather source material for a studio drawing/painting later on. Due to various other commitments most of the class were absent so we postponed and instead went on a sketch crawl with the four students present. We explored a very interesting area around the school, which is the opposite end to where we live and definitely more down town. From blacksmith families in their tents on the roadside to the blue black toxic river damned with rubbish where pigs and egrets feast, this is a rough, gritty sometimes repulsive but vibrant place to explore and draw.